1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to a tray and, more specifically, to a portable tray for use in the interior of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle, such as a car, minivan, sport-utility vehicle, or truck, it may be desirable on occasion to have a work surface located proximate the driver and/or any passenger of the vehicle to use for drinking, eating, reading, working on a laptop computer, or writing, for instance, during operation of the vehicle. Accordingly, many modern vehicle-interior designs are configured to provide a working surface, such as a tray, at each of various locations of the passenger compartment. A typical vehicle-interior tray is adapted to move between a retracted, stored position within the glove compartment, center stack of the dashboard, a console, an armrest, and/or a seat, for example, and an extended, flat, deployed position.
Although these known trays can be readily concealed when they are not in use, they are generally permanently fixed to the respective locations. Unfortunately, some of these trays are not used sufficiently frequently such that they just take up valuable design space of the vehicle interior that could be used for more valuable features. These trays also can compromise space for occupants of the vehicle and adversely affect aesthetics in the vehicle. Because the space available in vehicle interiors is limited, these trays further can be objectionable in the vehicle interior because they tend to crowd or clutter the interior space. For example, a seat tray is usually positioned on the back of a front seat and is extendable to the deployed position. However, such an assembly often requires an oversized tray so that the tray can extend from the front seat over the knees of a seated rear passenger. Unfortunately, when the oversized tray is stored, the back of the corresponding front seat has no or limited space available to allocate for storage of other features.
In addition, many vehicles include only a limited number of trays such that they do not provide sufficient work space for all of the occupants of the vehicle. More specifically, some vehicles include, at most, only a single tray to serve as a work space for use by the driver and/or a passenger of the front seat. In such case, an occupant of the front seat may have to share a tray with another front-seat occupant. Alternatively, an occupant of the front seat may not have any access to a work space. Similarly, occupants of the back seat often do not have any access to a work space to use for the above-mentioned activities.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the related art for work space at more locations of the interior of a vehicle. More particularly, there remains a need in the related art for a single, relatively inexpensive tray that can be easily and quickly moved to and supported at each of various locations within the vehicle interior. Furthermore, there remains a need in the related art for such a tray that also can be stored in various locations within the vehicle interior such that the tray does not compromise valuable space or features of the vehicle interior.